Bestival and Cockneys Vs Zombies: Top things to do this weekend

See The 2 Bears perform at Bestival, watch a gang of bank robbers fight their way out of London in Cockneys Vs Zombies or curl up with Zoo Time by Howard Jacobson. These are just some of the top things to do this weekend.

The 2 Bears will perform at this year’s Bestival (Pic: File)GET DOWN TO…Bestival

DJ Rob da Bank’s boutique festival on the Isle of Wight, now firmly established as a main player on the music calendar, returns this weekend with a typically broad-ranging dance and indie line-up including indie enchantress Bat For Lashes and housey duo The 2 Bears – whose cuddly costumes should fit right in with Bestival’s fancy- dress vibe.

Multi-generational, multi-instrumental crew Staff Benda Bilili (whose paraplegic mainmen ride customised trikes) have soared from their roots as Kinshasa street buskers to global fame. This second album is a typically exuberant blast.

Lee Hazlewood: A House Safe For Tigers

Late country legend Lee Hazlewood’s rare, fantastical soundtrack to a 1975 Swedish TV film is beautifully reissued on indie label Light In The Attic. Everything is underpinned by the title theme’s warm sentiments and Hazlewood’s heartfelt growl; it exudes the dreamy magic of a classic fairy tale.

CURL UP WITH…NW by Zadie Smith

The much-anticipated new novel from Zadie Smith looks at the emotional, social and multicultural fault lines of modern London through the lives of four people, who all come from the same part of north London but have ended up in very different places. A great contribution to the literature of the capital.

Zoo Time by Howard Jacobson

The latest novel from Howard Jacobson is both an extended howl over the terminal state of literature and a scabrously funny portrayal of a writer in torment.

Larky comedy horror in the vein of Shaun Of The Dead. The undead meet their match as they take on the likes of Ashley ‘Bashy’ Thomas and, err, Richard Briers.

FEAST YOUR EYES ON …Cecil Beaton: Theatre Of War

This revelatory retrospective focuses on a little-known side of one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century: showcasing some of the extensive range of World War II images taken by a figure best known for high society and fashion portraits.